President Obama welcomes Heat to White House on Tuesday

The Heat, pictured here in January 2013, have been to the White House for two consecutive years. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama welcomed the Miami Heat to the White House on Tuesday afternoon as part of the league's annual tradition of sending the NBA champions to visit the president.

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Obama, who has made his allegiance to the Chicago Bulls no secret over the years, said the Heat's 66-win season last year was "almost as impressive as the Bulls' 72-win season" in 1995-96 when Michael Jordan was at the helm. The Heat defeated the Spurs last June in a wildly entertaining NBA Finals, eventually emerging victorious in seven games.

Noting the bipartisian group in attendance on Tuesday, including Democrats and Republicans from his administration who are fans of the Heat, Obama sarcastically noted, "nothing brings people together like the Miami Heat."

Head coach Eric Spoelstra then presented the president with a replica NBA trophy with Obama's name inscribed in the middle of a list of members from last year's championship roster.

The President wrapped up the brief ceremony on Tuesday afternoon by wishing the team well, unless, he said, they face the Bulls in the playoffs.

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